Enthusiasm for taking part in Acton Junior parkrun was a bit low this week as the runners could see that it wasn't summer anymore by looking out of their windows. The rain held off for the parkrun, it was just miserable before and after, making the achievement of the 37 finishers all the more impressive.

Divya almost missed out on completing his 250th good deed - which he only mentioned after the run - with the Run Director searching around for her missing funnel manager. He did make it on time though to keep children in order and heading straight through the funnel to collect their finish tokens from Joanna. Ahead of the start, most GoodGymers were more concerned with a smaller number. The number of sides on the sculpture that Ariane would be marshalling at. The ad-hoc marshal point for the day that Alan discovered was made up of dodecahedrons ("the big metal things") and was actually meant for bouldering.

Around the course, Steph took on the role of tail walker, encouraging the children at the back to keep going to the finish. Kash was barcode scanning and Alan tried to keep time, battling his iPhone screen that was sensitive to raindrops and could randomly record phantom runners. Sevan was also marshalling and spotted one cheeky participant run through a gate late and join his friend at around 1/3rd distance.

If you'd like to join us next month, in any role around the course, sign up here!

Another week and another visit to Mrs R : more weeding? Yes, but in the back garden and also some tree trimming. Last week it was very hot and today it was raining. Time to weed out the bad!!That's a hi expectation. Trimmed the tree which I forgot to take an "after picture" as busy fighting the weed. Then filled half a green bin full of weed, brambles and bindweed. The final weed bouquet completed. I was also asked to sort out the lavender section as dropping to the ground : found some bamboo sticks to hold it back up straight. Lavender is always in bloom. The rain held off - just a few drops! Goodbye weed - until next time.

Sevan and Steph Ducat met at Ealing Broadway Station for a chatty run to Acton Junior parkrun. A few drops at the start of the 3km run which increased on the run. It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived at the park.

Western Road Urban Garden is a wonderful place managed by Southall Community Alliance. The site, converted from a derelict allotment and dumping ground into a thriving garden, welcomes children from local schools and helps them learn where food and vegetables come from (spoiler: it's not the supermarket!). It also connects Southall residents through gardening and helps fight inequalities in access to fresh food by donating its crops to the local foodbank.

While our previous visit to the garden had been during the time of extreme heat, the July community day welcomed us with the return of the typical British weather: a downpour! Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, Janpal, the SCA manager, and four GoodGymers still made it to the session!

There was an indoor element to the task, quickly finished by Angela: planting and watering aubergines in the polytunnel. Despite the lower turnout today due to the weather, Janpal was happy about the rain as plants desperately needed it. The ones planted in the polytunnel had very limited access to the rainwater. And here's where Angela came in, fighting this in-aquality with a watering can!

Janpal told us about a better irrigation system he planned to install next year. Watering inside the polytunnel every day to keep the crops alive was quite a commitment! WRUG's resident fox might have also been thinking about the irrigation improvements, as he had recently ripped another hole in the polytunnel and had been seen walking on top of it! We've heard more stories about the fox: Janpal's victory over the troublemaker by beating him to the ripe apricots this year, and fox repellents made of wolves' urine.

Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash worked outside for most of the time, getting all equally soaked. They've made a big difference, chopping nettles and pulling bindweed to free the native hedging. As a result, a massive heap of weeds grew nearby, which Janpal hoped would be collected by the council.

As we completed clearing one side of the hedge and got thoroughly drenched, the session finished earlier, with the usual refreshments: fruit, tea, coffee and samosas in the polytunnel.

WRUG is taking a break from hosting community days in August, but you can join us at a different urban garden. Come to volunteer in Greenford at the beginning of next month. Sign up here!

After a very wet morning run and community mission, it was time to run roughly 10km to my mission at Mrs P. I anticipated a very wet morning so took some spare socks, shorts and GG Top. Ran a bit then decided to take a short trip on public transport as heavy rain : got closer to my destination and got changed plus hot drink before walking to Mrs P flat...it stopped raining by then and the sun was coming out. This mission was going to be high in the sky : Mrs P lives on the last floor of a high building. Both lifts welcome me, but 1 lift was not working. Reached the top floor and Mrs P was waiting on the landing : took my shoes off as they were still wet. My mission was to clean windows on the top floor(higher then 10 floors), both inside and outside. it stopped raining so I could clean the windows. Started with the kitchen ones and as kitchen top, Mrs P brought some steps and said it will be easier to reach the top of them...luckily I am tall so did not need them. The windows tilted so no hanging outside on the top floor. then di the balcony ones which has a great view on London. Cleaned the windows and around them as white frames - cleared the cobwebs too. When I was cleaning the inside we started talking about sports as Mrs P was watching the Diamond league. As all windows and frames were cleaned, put away all the cleaning items and left Mrs P carry on watching the Diamond League. No pictures of the view for privacy reasons but have a beautiful ladder and clothes.

Sevan was faced with a locked door when he arrived at Mr G's flat, which was pretty unusual. Mr G normally has an open door policy for GoodGymers, so this time Sevan rang the bell and waited. Eventually Mr G appeared and said that he'd fallen asleep on the sofa in the afternoon which he was annoyed by, but sounded quite idylic to Sevan.

The list of groceries from last week was recycled as there wasn't time to prepare a new one. Mr G had decided that cherry yogurts didn't agree with him, so with that caveat, Sevan set off to Sainsbury's with a mostly standard set of items to buy.

Breaking the rules of supermarket shopping, Sevan headed to the back of the store first to get some paninis as they often run out in the evening. He then took a reverse route, ending up at the pie fridge to pick up Mr G's favourite chicken & gravy.

Back at the flat, Mr G was on an important call that he'd told Sevan about earlier, so Sevan loaded the chilled items into the fridge and left everything else on the counter. Unfortunately Sevan didn't get to see the reaction when Mr G found the 2 surprise bananas that were snuck into the basket 🍌.